Women make strides in sciences

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When 19-year-old Haley MacLeod looks around her computer science lab at the University of Calgary, the second-year student is hard pressed to find another female in the crowd.

"There's definitely not very many women in my program," says MacLeod, who is pursuing a combined undergraduate degree in computer science and business. "Quite a few (women) have already dropped out or changed majors between first and second year."

Science and engineering fields have been dominated by men for years, although there has been steady, if slow, progress in boosting female student numbers over the past two decades in programs such as computer science.

"It's definitely getting there but, having said that, I'm still one of only a handful of women in a group of hundreds of men," she says.

Not one to be intimidated, though, MacLeod is happy to pursue her dreams in a male-dominated field while supporting other young women interested in such a career. While in junior high school, she attended an event called Explore IT meant to educate young women about careers in science-related fields. She volunteered for the annual event last year and then connected with the university's Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) program.

"It's a really good program. . . it lets people like me know what help is out there and gives you a chance to network with other people in similar situations in underrepresented fields," says MacLeod.

Searesh Munir, the 22-year-old president of WISE, says boosting female numbers in science and engineering requires a constant effort to educate young women about opportunities and providing resources to support them.

She's pursuing a double degree in biological sciences and chemical engineering. "It's been an awesome opportunity for me to actually advocate for this concern," says Munir.

WISE exists, in part, to act as a place where women can connect with other female students and to seek out other campus organizations that support them throughout their education and beyond, such as the Women's Resource Centre and the Women's Advancement Office.

"I don't feel intimidated at all," says Munir. "I think we need to show them all the opportunities that are available to women."

Campus champions such as Elizabeth Cannon, dean of the Schulich School of Engineering, have been promoting careers in male-dominated fields for years through their work on initiatives such as the Gender and Diversity in Engineering Committee.

"One of the major issues women face is around self-confidence and self-esteem and so we focus on building that foundation of giving them good life skills," says committee member Stephanie Garrett, executive director of the Women's Resource Centre.

Enrolment statistics show the number of women entering undergraduate programs at universities across Canada recently surpassed the number of men by a slight margin, but that doesn't tell the whole story.

"The second that you look at graduate levels, it drops off significantly," says Garrett, pointing to the fact that many women are starting families around the time when many students go into graduate or postgraduate studies.

Child care is just one of the additional barriers women tend to face in the workforce, not to mention an inequality in pay-- women make between 70 and 80 cents on the dollar compared to men for the same levels of work.

"It's not just about some system we live in that's unequal, it's because women don't ask for the same things," says Garrett, adding her organization teaches female students negotiation and leadership skills to confront such inequalities.

Munir, meanwhile, and others like her, continue to push for greater female representation in the workforce in all fields, at all levels.

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